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Abercrombie & Fitch

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Abercrombie & Fitch is a retailer of preppy clothing and accessories including cologne and perfume for young college students. In 2006, Michael S. Jeffries, the CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, made public comments that eventually doomed his career and tarnished the brand of this company. In an article in Salon magazine, he stated during the interview that his company does not make or market clothes for unattractive people. These spiteful remarks resurfaced in 2013 and the public backlash went viral. Due to the negative publicity and falling sales, Michael S. Jeffries retired from his position as Chief Executive Officer on December 8, 2014.
Prior to his public statements in 2013, anyone could walk in an Abercrombie store and smell the heavy fragrance …show more content…
Perhaps, he intended his remarks to his targeted market – the beautiful cool people. If this was the case, he could have communicated to his in-store and on-line shoppers through the use of flyers, sales promotions. reward programs or other methods, rather than his repugnant remarks in a magazine and on the Internet. A company has every right to foster and protect its brand, such as stores that cater to plus sizes, petite sizes, or preteens. In doing so, these stores exclude certain customers, but the unwanted customers should not be publicly insulted and humiliated. Unfortunately, Jeffries failed to realize that his targeted consumers – rich, young, beautiful college students – would also turn against the A&F brand. However, Jeffries did have second thoughts concerning his scandalous remarks two days later and cut off communication with the magazine …show more content…
Due to its hiring practices and its treatment of disabled employees directed by Jeffries, Abercrombie has been forced to settle several lawsuits. Even though Jeffries was the CEO, there seemed to be no sharing of leadership functions. Perhaps, another management official would have suggested sensitivity training or diversity in the company’s hiring procedures. Some minority college students sued Abercrombie in 2004 for racial discrimination, alleging their work hours were reduced and they were forced to work in stockrooms rather than the sales floor because they didn’t look “Abercrombie enough.” Although Jeffries wanted an almost exclusively white staff, Abercrombie did not admit any wrongdoing and settled the suits for $50 million.
The settlement did require the company to develop polices to create a more diverse workforce
(Berfield & Rupp, 2015). In 2009, a British employee born without a left arm, won her lawsuit against A&F because she was forced to work in the stockroom, to be unseen by customers (Walker,

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